European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 16, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Continued from Page 9 when the factory used Only a four Speed. And now the factory has followed suit. In Many cases the factory has followed our changes and has incorporated them into their production. We re always Happy about  during a tour of the ultramodern facilities Ruf illustrated what happens in the various departments with fascinating and at times funny stories. Picking up an aluminium Hood that eventually would be attached to a 200 Mph plus ctr Ruf twin Turbo sports car he asked us to notice the two reinforcement strips under the Hood panel. Those strips Are  Good reason Ruff said. After our first runs with the twin Turbo we would hear this loud pop when we drove into the parking lot. The pop and it was a loud one occurred every time we parked the car and we could t figure it out. Finally someone saw what happened. During a run of 200 Miles an hour or More the Hood would implode slightly into the body. Once we stopped the car it would pop Back out. So these support strips solved that problem. We Don t have any wind tunnels so we we do All of our testing on these country roads he added smiling. We re practical people Down  Ruf s tuning customers Are obviously people of some Means who put a lot of their Money into cars. What Type of person buys the Ruf twin Turbo extremely wealthy Auto fanatics Ruf replied quickly. Most of them already own a garage full of ferraris and porsche. And there s no Lack of buyers. We get inquiries from All Over the world even Korea. Our firm has been featured in magazines everywhere including Japan and the world Speed record stories like those in Road and track and Auto motor und sport a German Magazine have created a great interest and that interest is especially Strong in countries with Speed limits. These readers live High off dreams of  it is indeed an International crowd that patronize the Ruf firm. During our tour of the premises we saw cars bound for Japan business is especially Good there Ruf say the United states Spain Switzerland Canada Guadaloupe in the French Caribbean and other places around the Globe. We stopped in the experimental department to inspect a new Ruf developed six Speed transmission Alois Ruf stands next to a Stock porsche engine that will be Ruf sized and then inserted in the reworked Shell of a porsche 911 lower photo to create one of the fastest machines on the Road. That will soon find its Way into the ctr twin Turbo. With a car that can hit 210 Mph or More a six Speed makes sense Ruff said. Just Divide 210 Mph by six and you get the idea for the right  Ruf gets the Plain body Shell from porsche and then starts from scratch As he puts it his workmen building the car to the end. The front fenders doors and Hood Are All of aluminium to gain Overall lightness. Rain gutters Are removed for better aerodynamics the Shell is modified and then the Chassis is stiffened and Roll bars Are integrated into the body construction. Everything is strengthened to take care of the extra Power of these cars. The engine for the ctr twin Turbo is 50 percent Ruf and 50 percent porsche Ruf says each Turbo on the ctr equipped with an inter cooler. After final Ruf treatment the ctr twin Turbo engine turns out 469 horsepower. The other Ruf Model the bar in Coupe Targa or convertible design has a single Turbo the engine turning out 374 horsepower. The regular porsche factory production Turbo puts out 300 horsepower. Ruf s single Turbo bar costs about 190,000 Marks $103,000 without tax. But the ctr twin Turbo $156,000 Sells Best Ruf says about 18 of them Are produced annually along with 10 or 12 bars. Ruf s cars carry Ruf Chassis numbers because the final ultrahigh Speed product is strictly his own even though it looks like a porsche 911 Carrera. Like the Ruf firm the porsche club of America Germany Region also celebrated its 25th anniversary last year and there is a Strong connection Between Ruf and the porsche club. Ruf is a major sponsor of some of its annual events. My first connection with the american club came in 1975, when i met Bill Story a former club president on a tour of the porsche technical Center. Story told me about the club. Until then i did t even know there was a porsche club in Germany. My father had sent me to California in 1969 and 70 to get to know the american Market and the american approach to porsche so meeting Story and learning about the american porsche owners Here in Germany was a stroke of Good Fortune. I be had Many porsche club customers Ever since. Joe Carastro and Jim Brunson were the first ones and we be done Chuck Statham s 930 car to his liking. The porsche club customers recommend our firm to other americans so we have Many american customers not Only within the club but outside of it As  Ruff said. The fact that i speak English helps quite a lot  along with building his own cars and modifying customers cars the Ruf firm has also begun restoration work on old automobiles. That work is done in the new building across the Street from the company s original Headquarters. While most of Ruf s customers Are experienced High Speed Drivers those who want to take a refresher course or just become familiar with their Ruf cars at High speeds May do so on two race tracks. Ruf conducts two schools for Drivers annually this year s outings set for june 24 on the Salzburg ring in Austria and april 8-at Bockenheim in Germany. 10 stripes Magazine february 16, 1989